pullman



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. B. PULLMAN.

' GAHR'ADOOR.

No. 485,588. I v Patented Nov. I 1892.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. 7

(No Model.) 4'

A. PUL AN.

. CAR 1),

- Patented Nov. 1, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT O FIC ALBERT B. PULLMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE A. PULLMAN COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,588, dated November 1, 1892.

Application filed June 16, 1891. Serial No. 396,461. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

7 Be it known that I, ALBERT B. PULLMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have in vented a-new and useful Improvement in Sliding Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to sliding doors for freight-cars and forms an especially-valuable addition to freight-car doors of the particular construction shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 421,084, granted to me on the 11th day of February, 1890. In the construction shown in that patent the door is suspended by means of socketplates projecting upward from its top upon balls which travel upon a track formed by an F angle-iron, so called, (though the part which constitutes the track for the balls is usually curved,) secured to the wall of the car above the door. This permits the door, if unrestrained, to swing to and from the car below the line of suspension, the hangers acting as a pivot. This pendulous action of the door is taken advantage of in the patent referred to for the provision of a cinder-guard, which consists of an upright cleat tapering substantially throughout its whole length and made thinnest at its upper end, which cleat is secured to the wall of the car at the rear edge of the door-opening, so that the door in order either to be opened or closed must be swung outward at its lower end sufficiently to permit it to clear the cleat. In addition to this in the patent referred to the outward movement of. the lower end of the door is limited to the extent necessary to allow it to clear the cleat freely by means of a metal plate secured to the lower inner margin of the door and pro-' jecting below the lower edge of the door, and also below the shoulders of the brackets secured to the wall of the car just below the door, so that the shoulders of the brackets prevent the door from swinging outward beyond a predetermined. degree, so gaged as to be very little more than that necessary to permit the door to pass over the cleat.

With all sliding freight-car doors hung from above a fastening device is desirable to hold the lower end of the door when shut firmly in place against the wall of the car, and the object of my present invention is to accomplish this in the most effective way with the use of only a single fastening agent, such as a bolt requiring manipulation.

To this end my invention consists in providing a guide operating to bring the forward edge of the door in closing snugly up against the wall of the car and providing a locking device at or near the lower rear corner of the door to engage with the wall of the car and co-operate with the guide in producing the desired result; audit consists, also, in certain details of construction and combination of parts relating to my preferred form of embodiment, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

For a particular description of my invent on reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a car-door in place upon a car and provided with my improvement; Fig. 2, a perspective view showing the lower corner of the door with the metal plate projecting below the same; Fig. 3, a perspective view of my improved bracket viewed from the front; Fig. at, a perspective View of the same viewed from the rear; Fig. 5, a cross-section of the bracket and lower portion of the door, taken in the position of line 5 of Fig. 4 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 6, a vertical section of the car wall and door, taken on the line 6 of Fig. l and viewed in the direction of the arrow, the door being partly open and extending across the tapering cleat; Fig. 7, a vertical section of the fastening device at or near the lower rear corner of the door and doorway, the section being taken on the line 7 of Fig. l and viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 8, a vertical section through the bracket and car-wall, taken on the line 8 of Figs. 1 and 4 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, showing the preferred mode of securing the bracket inplace; and Fig. 9, a plan view of the bracket at the lower rear corner of the doorway.

A is. a sliding car-door suspended by means of hangers of the particular construction mentioned above, though any analogous form of hanger may be substituted.

B is a tapering cleat at the rear edge of the ets secured to the wall of the car to limit the outward movement, all substantially as set forth in my former patent above referred to.

E is afastcning device at or near the rear lower corner of thedoorsuch as a sliding bolt to, entering a socket o in the bracketD on the wall of the car-and adapted to receive a carseal wand Fis a guidein the form of a bracket secured to the wall of the car just beneath the forward lower corner of the door-opening, as shown, which operates to force the forward edge of the door in closing against the wall of the car. It is formed with a beveled shoulder 2, which serves as a guide for the metal extension 0, so that after the door has reached the bracket F in closing it is guided inward by the beveled shoulder 1. until it brings up against the janib s, at which time it will be close against the wall of the car. In order that the door may strike the jamlo with the bracket F in the position shown in Fig. 1, the ofiset r is formed upon the shoulder, leaving a space (1 between the offset and the rear face of the bracket equal in width to the thickness of the plate 0.

Fig. 5 shows the construction that I prefer to employ as to the bracket F for economy of metal. It will be seen that the shoulder is formed without increase of thickness, the conformation upon the under surface correspondmg with that of the upper.

Obviously any extension from the lower end of the door which will engage the beveled shoulder 25 and force the door inward as it approaches the jamb in the same manner as the plate 0 will constitute a mechanical equivalent of the latter, and if the bracket F is made to project far enough from'the sill the lower end of the door itself may by a slight prolongation be caused to engage the shoulder t. The bracket F operates, in effect, as a lock for the forward edge of the door, and hence it is advisable to secure it in place in such a way as to provide against its detachment when the door is closed. For this reason I prefer to have the bolts which secure it in place pass entirely, through the sill, with their heads upon the outside in contact with the bracket and their nuts on the inner side of the sill, as shown in Fig. 8; and the same provision should be made for a like reason i with reference to the bolts which secure to That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a car-wall and a sliding door thereon pivotally suspended from its upper end, whereby it maybe swung outward below the line of suspension, a bracket provided with a beveled shoulder t, secured to the sill near the jamb and operating to engage the door and force it inward as it approaches the jamb, and a locking device at or near the lower rear corner of the door and doorway for securing the rear portion of the door against the wall of the car, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a car-wall and a sliding door thereon pivotally suspended from its upper end, wherebyit may be swung outward below the line of suspension, a bracket secured to the sill near the jamb and provided with abeveled shoulder operating to engage the door and force it inward as it approaches the jamb, a projection from the wall of the car at the rear of the doorway, operating to maintain the door while opening and closing out of contact with the wall of the car below the line of suspension, and a locking device at or near the lower rear corner of the door and doorway, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a car-wall, a sliding door thereon pivotally suspended from its upper end, whereby it may be swung outward below the line of suspension, and a tapering cleat B at the rear edge of the doorway, an inclined guide upon the wall, operating to engage the forward part of the door and force it inward as it approaches the jamb, and a looking device at or near the lower rear corner of the door and doorway for securing therear portion of the door against the wall of the car, substantially as described.

41 In combination with a car-wall and suspended sliding door A thereon, having the plate 0 projecting from its lower inner edge, tapering cleat B, and bracket D, the bracket F, secured to the wall at the base of the jamb and provided with the beveled shoulder t, engaging theplate O as the door approaches the jamb, and a fastening device E at the lower rear corner of the door and doorway, substautially as described.

ALBERT B. PULLMAN.

In presence of- J. W. DYRENFORTH, M. J. FRosr. 

